Early life

Walsh was born in Watford, Hertfordshire, and grew up nearby in Leavesden. He attended what is now Francis Combe Academy, a comprehensive school in Garston, Hertfordshire. At school, Walsh showed a particular interest in sports and media, and passed O-levels in both subjects. He was also a prominent member of the school's football squad, scoring 64 goals during his time there.

Football career

In the late 1978, at the age of 18, Walsh became a professional football player for Brentford and although he failed to make the first team, he was regularly a member of the reserves. Separate ankle fracture injuries finished his career in the game in the early 1980s after a promising loan spell with non-league Dunstable Town, for whom he scored 15 goals in 25 league appearances. Walsh's time at Brentford also saw him play for Barnet on loan, making five league appearances in the 1978-79 season. He also played for Tring Town, Boreham Wood and Chalfont St Peter.

Television

Following his football career, Walsh had a variety of jobs including working as a bluecoat at Pontins in Morecambe for three months. He first came to prominence on television in 1994 after he won a role as one of the presenting team on the National Lottery which was regularly broadcast on Saturday and Wednesday evenings on BBC One. After Walsh became a public favourite, he was quickly snapped up by rival television channel ITV, who offered him the role as presenter on one of the network's new game shows, Midas Touch. In 1997, Walsh was asked to front the British adaptation of the popular US game show Wheel of Fortune following the decision of long-time presenter Nicky Campbell to leave the show after more than eight years.

Walsh's tenure on Wheel of Fortune lasted just one year, when he decided to turn his hand to acting.

Acting

Walsh's first acting job was a minor role in the Channel 4 series, Lock, Stock.... Channel 4 later approached him for a role in their 2001 TV film Mike Bassett: England Manager.

Walsh returned to ITV in 2002, after landing a regular role in the short lived British soap opera Night and Day. He featured in a total of 52 episodes. In 2003, Walsh played a minor role in an episode of The Bill spin-off M.I.T.: Murder Investigation Team. In October 2007, he appeared in TV drama Torn.

In 2008, Walsh appeared in two episodes of Doctor Who spin-off The Sarah Jane Adventures, in the second story of series two, The Day of the Clown, as a sinister entity that fed off other people's fear. In his role, he played three parts of the same ego - a sinister American-sounding clown called Odd Bob, a mysterious European-sounding ringmaster called Elijah Spellman, and the infamous Pied Piper of Hamelin.

In January 2009, Walsh and his son Barney featured in a special edition of the Channel 5 TV series, Dangerous Adventures for Boys, based on the best-selling book by Conn and Hal Iggulden, The Dangerous Book for Boys. Walsh and his son took part in hill-climbing before learning how to pilot a biplane.

In January 2009, Walsh began appearing in ITV crime drama Law & Order: UK. Walsh plays the character of DS Ronnie Brooks, a recovering alcoholic who has been in the police force for more than twenty years. From 2009 until 2014, Walsh starred in a total of 53 episodes. After the eighth series, Walsh decided to take a break from the programme and ITV decided to rest the show, but it has not been cancelled and is simply on a hiatus. Walsh said he would "like the opportunity to pursue other drama projects which ITV are developing."

On 21 March 2013, Walsh appeared in an episode of The Spa on Sky Living.

In May 2014, Walsh was cast as Brutus in a BBC One comedy series called SunTrap, starring alongside Kayvan Novak and Keith Allen. The show premiered on 27 May 2015.

Coronation Street

Main article: Coronation Street

In 2004, Walsh was approached for a role in soap opera Coronation Street. On 31 May 2004, Walsh made his first appearance in Weatherfield as factory boss Danny Baldwin. It was originally envisioned that Walsh's character would be called Vic, however, Walsh asked for the character's name to be changed to Danny after his late father. He also commented that "people had previously called me Young Danny, so I thought it would not be so bad when people called me by my character name." In December 2006, Walsh was written out of the serial at his own request. During his time in Coronation Street, Walsh also appeared as Burglar Bill at the Children's Party at the Palace 2006. In May 2010 It was announced Walsh will return to the soap in September for 2 months, Walsh later denied this saying "I cannot rule out a return but right now its a no, because I'm busy with programmes such as The Chase". In March 2014 Walsh announced he was thinking of returning to Corrie but later changed in mind and in 2015 Walsh became busy in other programmes.

Presenting

Walsh hosted the British version of Wheel of Fortune, succeeding Nicky Campbell. After one series, he left the show and was replaced by John Leslie.

On 9 September 2007, Walsh hosted the countdown 50 Greatest Stars Polls on ITV, in which people had to vote for their favourite polls on celebrities. Later that year, on 29 December 2007, Walsh hosted the countdown for the No. 1 Soap Fan on ITV.

In August 2008, Walsh fronted his own ITV series entitled My Little Soldier, in which young contestants are required to do "grown-up things" such as travelling on their own by train. In November and December 2008, Walsh hosted another game show for ITV called Spin Star.

In June 2009, Walsh became the presenter of ITV game show The Chase as well as the celebrity editions of the programme. The Chase has become very popular, beating rival BBC quiz show Pointless regularly. The show features contestants who take on the "Chaser" in a series of general knowledge quiz rounds. The Chasers are Mark Labbett (a.k.a. "The Beast"), Shaun Wallace (a.k.a. "The Dark Destroyer"), Anne Hegerty (a.k.a. "The Governess"), Paul Sinha (a.k.a. "The Sinnerman"), and Jenny Ryan (a.k.a. "The Vixen"). There have also been a number of series of celebrity versions of the show, also hosted by Walsh and featuring the same Chasers.

Walsh hosted a pilot for an American version of The Chase in 2012. However, it was decided that Brooke Burns would host the show instead.

Between 2010 and 2011, Walsh was the presenter of Saturday panel show Odd One In, with regular panellists Peter Andre and Jason Manford.

Since 2012, Walsh has hosted the Crime Thriller Awards on ITV3. He also hosted the Crime Thriller Club on ITV3 in 2013.

Walsh also narrated a one-off documentary for ITV called The Circus.

In August 2014, Walsh hosted an ITV series called Come on Down! The Game Show Story, which looks back on the history of British game shows.

On 26 October 2014, after two successful pilots, Walsh began hosting the first series of Keep It in the Family. He returned to host a second series in 2015.

In 2014, Walsh presented an episode of Sunday Night at the Palladium. He returned to the show to present another episode in 2015. In 2016, he presented eight episode of Tonight at the Palladium, a spin-off from the Sunday Night series.

On 26 December 2014, Walsh hosted an entertainment special called A Christmas Cracker, filmed at the Hammersmith Apollo in London.

In May 2016, Bradley guest presented an episode of The One Show with Alex Jones.

Other work

In 2007, Walsh took part in Northern Rock's All Star Golf Tournament on ITV, in which his team, Team Europe, won. Walsh stated that he has been playing golf since he was twenty years old.

In August 2008, Walsh appeared in talent show Maestro on BBC Two where he placed sixth.

Since 2015, Bradley has been a team captain on the sports-based panel show Play to the Whistle. Hosted by Holly Willoughby, the first series lasted for seven episodes, beginning in April 2015. The second series began in April 2016.

Theatre

Year	Title	Role	Location
1988	Aladdin	Wishee Washee	Theatre Royal, Norwich
1991-92			Liverpool Empire Theatre
1994-96	Peter Pan	Smee	The Alban Arena, St Albans
1997-98	Cinderella	Buttons	Theatre Royal, Nottingham
1998			Wimbledon Theatre
2000-01	Dick Whittington	Dick	Orchard Theatre, Dartford
2001-02	Snow White	Muddles	White Rock Theatre, Hastings
2002-03	Cinderella	Buttons	The Gordon Craig Theatre, Stevenage
2003-04	Jack & the Beanstalk
2006-07	Cinderella	Buttons	Milton Keynes Theatre
2007-08	Aladdin	Wishee Washee
2008-09			New Victoria Theatre, Woking
2010-11	Peter Pan	Smee	Cliffs Pavilion, Southend
2013-14	Cinderella	Buttons	Orchard Theatre, Dartford
2014-15	Peter Pan	Smee	Milton Keynes Theatre
2015	Peter Pan: A Musical Adventure	Captain Hook	Adelphi Theatre, London (one-off concert)
2015	Cinderella	Buttons	Barclaycard Arena, Birmingham

Personal life

Walsh is the son of Margaret (née O'Connell) and Daniel Terence "Danny" Walsh (8 August 1934 - 12 November 1993). Walsh married choreographer Donna Derby in 1997, and they have one son, Barney (born 1997). The family live in Chigwell, Essex. He has a daughter Hayley (born 1982), from a previous relationship. During his appearance on That's What I Call Television with Fern Britton, Walsh declared that he is an Arsenal fan. During the first quarter of 2010, Walsh completed a stand-up comedy tour throughout theatres in the UK.

In 2011, Walsh co-wrote a series of personalised football story books entitled My Dream Cup Final with..., which were published in June 2011. In January 2012, Walsh took part in a public charity event in which he cycled from Northern France to Portugal to raise money for Sane.

On an episode of The Chase, Walsh revealed that he used to be a member of Cubs and the Salvation Army.

Walsh is a supporter of UK charity Make-A-Wish Foundation, which he claims to be his favourite.

Awards

• British Soap Award (May 2006) for "Best Dramatic Performance" for Danny Baldwin in Coronation Street
• Broadcast Award (2013) for "Best Daytime Programme" for The Chase
• National Television Award (2016) for "Most popular Daytime Programme" for The Chase

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2001	Mike Bassett: England Manager	Dave Dodds
2001	The Glow	George
2013	Imagine Africa	Himself

Television

Year	Title	Role
1995	Midas Touch	Presenter
1997	Wheel of Fortune
2000	Lock, Stock...	Larry Harmless
2000	The Thing About Vince	Perry
2001	Hotel	Henry
2002-03	Night and Day	Eddie "Woody" Dexter
2003	Reps	Terry Arnold
2003	M.I.T.: Murder Investigation Team	Phil Seagrove
2004	The Basil Brush Show	Mr. Savage
2004	Murder City	Ken Hill
2004-06	Coronation Street	Danny Baldwin
2007	Torn	Steven Taylor
2007	The Old Curiosity Shop	Mr. Liggers
2008	The Sarah Jane Adventures	Odd Bob Elijah Spellman The Pied Piper
2009-14	Law & Order: UK	DS Ronnie Brooks
2009-present	The Chase	Presenter
2010-11	Odd One In
2012-present	The Crime Thriller Awards	Presenter
2013	Crime Thriller Club
2014	Come on Down! The Game Show Story	Presenter
	A Christmas Cracker
2014, 2015	Sunday Night at the Palladium	Guest presenter
2014-present	Keep it in the Family	Presenter
2015-present	SunTrap	Brutus
2015-present	Play to the Whistle	Team captain
2016-present	Tonight at the London Palladium	Presenter
2016	The One Show	Guest presenter, 1 episode

[ Source: Wikipedia ]